It’s 1896 in Athens. The first modern Olympic Games sees 241 male athletes from 14 countries line up to compete. Four years later in Paris, just 22 women were invited to line up alongside the 1,000-strong male cohort. These select women were confined to “appropriate” pursuits—tennis, golf and the like. Their presence was treated with curiosity rather than a showcase of elite athleticism.
For most of the 20th century, women remained in the sporting margins. Even as participation surged, events were scheduled in less desirable time slots. Prime-time belonged to the men.
When cameras turned their way, the framing often lingered on female competitors’ bodies or emotions rather than their skill in the way it did with male athletes. Commentary praised appearance, grace or personal lives, while male athletes were analysed for strength, tactics and performance.
Behind the lens, the picture wasn’t much better. Technical crews were overwhelmingly male. The Olympics were sending a clear message: sport and sports media were a man’s world.
That entrenched inequality is exactly what Yiannis Exarchos, CEO of Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS), has made it his mission to dismantle.
Shifting the Frame
For several years now, OBS, which produces the live global feed of the Games for billions of viewers, has been quietly but steadily rewriting the playbook.
Speaking exclusively to B&T, Exarchos said its Framing the Future initiative was “launched by OBS to help close the wide gender gap in sports broadcasting, an area still dominated by men”.
Exarchos describes its approach as a mix of training, hiring and rewriting ingrained habits. “For OBS, building a more inclusive industry starts with creating real opportunities for women to access key positions, and hiring more female camera operators at Paris 2024 was a clear priority, and this remains the case, as we relaunch the programme for Milano Cortina 2026″.
In practice, that meant more than 70 aspiring women trained as camera operators before the Games, with 40 per cent hired as freelancers. “We see this initiative as a way to give women the tools, support, and confidence to thrive, helping them carve out meaningful careers in broadcasting, whether it is as camera operators or in other related positions”.
“The program helps address the gender imbalance by fostering a more inclusive culture, setting a standard within the industry and providing visible role models for future talent, while at the same time, leaving a living legacy in the host city”.
Paris 2024: A Turning Point
Paris 2024 marked a decisive shift in the Olympic broadcast narrative. For the first time, gender equality was not only reflected on the field of play through equal quotas, but also behind the camera and in commentary booths.
Women made up 37 per cent of all OBS commentators, almost double the proportion at Tokyo 2020, and their voices brought new perspectives and credibility to the Games. Leadership representation also changed dramatically, with two-thirds of Broadcast Venue Managers being women, compared with an even 50/50 split just three years earlier in Tokyo.
The Broadcast Training Programme underscored this momentum, welcoming more than 1,300 students into paid entry-level roles, 57 per cent of whom were women. At the International Broadcast Centre, women accounted for two-thirds of the Broadcast Venue Operations Centre staff, placing them in critical decision-making roles at the heart of the broadcast. The Olympic Commentary Training Programme offered a pathway for athletes themselves, training 15 Olympians and Paralympians, 12 of them women, to step into commentary roles.
Furthermore, in Paris, 80 per cent of the commentary trainees hired were women, a demographic that he said brings “unparalleled expertise and authenticity”. Their presence, Exarchos argued, it reshapes how audiences perceive female athletes, elevating analysis to focus on skills, tactics and athleticism.
Taken together, these figures tell a powerful story. Paris was proof that when opportunities are deliberately created, women not only fill them but redefine the culture of broadcasting itself.
For Exarchos, it was a validation of all the work he had been doing. “By integrating trained female professionals into our camera crews, we created role models for aspiring broadcast professionals, set a new industry benchmark, and contributed to the broader Olympic Movement’s push toward gender equality, on and off the field of play.
“For us, this initiative was about more than just numbers; it was about shifting perceptions and opening doors for the next generation”.
Programming decisions, once stacked against women, are now also used to spotlight them. At Paris 2024, the women’s marathon closed the athletics programme for the first time since 1984. For Milano Cortina 2026, OBS has ensured mixed doubles curling opens the Games and that the women’s curling final and men’s ice hockey final will both close them in prime time.
With 47 per cent female participation and 50 of 118 events designated as women’s competitions, Milano Cortina is riding the wave of diversity started in Paris and will be the most gender-equal Winter Games in history.
Dismantling Stereotypes
But it’s not just about numbers. The way sport is shown matters just as much as who is behind the camera. That’s why OBS applies the International Olympic Committee’s portrayal guidelines, first introduced in 2018.
“The IOC’s Portrayal Guidelines have become a cornerstone of our efforts to dismantle gender stereotypes in sports broadcasting,” Exarchos explained.
“These editorial principles are designed to ensure fair, respectful, and inclusive representation of athletes, regardless of gender, ethnicity, nationality, culture, sexual orientation, or other aspects of identity. They provide clear definitions of key terms, explain why portrayal in sport matters, offer practical suggestions for overcoming bias, and include checklists to support consistent implementation across all forms of media and communication”.
“Every image we show, every interview we conduct, and every word we use aligns with the principles of fairness, respect, and inclusion.”
That means cutting away old habits, no more gratuitous close-ups, no more “graceful” versus “powerful” binaries or comments on how impressive their achievements are when you consider they have a child at home or when taking public relationship dramas into account.
“In the past, female athletes were sometimes portrayed through a lens of attraction rather than athleticism, often unintentionally, due to unconscious bias. We’ve worked hard to shift that narrative, reinforcing to our teams that female athletes should be portrayed first and foremost as elite competitors, with coverage that reflects their skill, strength, and achievements. Even the selection of crowd reactions can subtly reinforce outdated norms, so we’ve trained crews to be mindful of those choices,” he explained.
“Ultimately, this is about more than avoiding bias; it’s about celebrating athletes in all their diversity and ensuring their accomplishments are portrayed with the respect they deserve”.
The Olympics, he believes, are uniquely positioned to drive change. “The Olympic Games offer an unparalleled global stage, reaching billions of viewers and setting cultural benchmarks for sport. This visibility makes the Games uniquely positioned to drive meaningful change in gender equality.”
At Paris 2024, OBS produced 11,000 hours of content, “one year and four months worth of content in 19 days,” and generated 95,000 automated highlights. None of it, Exarchos insists, should overshadow the real goal.
That starts within OBS itself. Founded in 2001 with a workforce that was 80 per cent male, OBS reached full gender parity in its permanent staff in May 2025. Games-time crews, which balloon to as many as 8,000, are harder to balance, but initiatives like Framing the Future, Engineering the Future, and the Broadcast Training Programme are steadily closing the gap.
The Olympics have always been about more than medals. They are a mirror for the world. For most of their history, that mirror reflected inequality, women absent, sidelined, or diminished. But today, thanks to deliberate choices in scheduling, camera angles, commentary and workforce balance, OBS is reframing the lens.
The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 will screen live and free on the 9Network and 9Now.
